Performance

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Enhancing
Performance

While Diablo 2 is a very advanced game, believe it or not it was designed to work on mediocre systems. Even so, many people have performance issues with it and others. Here are some simple things you can do to boost your system's performance. These tips are for users of Windows 98 SE specifically.

Install more physical memory -- This is probably the most straightforward way to increase computer performance. The cost of RAM is at an all time low with prices in the the $1 per MB range. If you only have 32mb of RAM, consider adding at least another 64mb, or ideally, adding enough RAM to equal 128mb. This should be the bare minimum amount of RAM your system has if you want to run the latest games on it.

Update your drivers -- Ensure that you have the latest drivers for your motherboard, video card, modem, sound card (updated motherboard drivers in particular have corrected many latency or lag issues). Always make sure that your Direct X is the most current version (7.0a).

UPDATE TO DIRECT X Some folks have updated their Direct X to the latest version which is 8.0. This is a Beta and has reportedly caused issues with some systems. Once you install a version of Direct X, you can only install newer versions and Microsoft states that Direct X is not meant to be uninstalled. I did find a program that reportedly uninstalls Direct X and I am making it available to you here. Please read the included README file and visit the links included prior to using this file. Download Direct X Uninstaller

Clean out the temporary internet files -- This is a good way to perform routine maintenance on your system and it can boost its performance. For Internet Explorer, open Explorer and go to Tools---->Internet Options----> and then look for the area regarding temporary internet files. Press the "Delete Files" button. A more thorough way to do this is to use this IE Cache 2 program.

Clean out the Windows Temp files -- (Not the same as temporary internet files) When your Windows temp file becomes bloated with .tmp files, system performance can suffer and even freeze and crash. Follow the instructions below and your system will actually do the work for you.

Remember: Unless you know what you are doing, do not delete the Windows tmp. files manually.

Windows uses some .tmp files repeatedly and if you remove a file Windows needs, there could be a problem. As a general rule, Windows will not let you delete a file that it needs. With that said, follow these directions:

Go to Start---->Programs---->Accessories---->System Tools---->Maintenance Wizard (if you do not have the Maintenance Wizard option, you may have to install it from your Windows system disk)

Once the Wizard is running, select "Custom"---->Next

Select a time for your maintenance schedule or choose "Custom"---->Next

You should now see a version of your Windows Start up folder. If you want, de-select any programs you dont wish to have run at startup---->Next

You now have the option to schedule your system to automatically run the defrag program. Running the defrag program about once a month will benefit your system. The less free space you have on your hard drive, the more fragmented the files can become. (Make your choice. Keep in mind that if you choose to run the defrag at a particular time, you can have no other programs running. Not even your anti virus. No screen savers. Nothing. Any disk activity while the defrag program is running will cause it to restart).---->Next

You now have the option to schedule your system to automatically run the Scandisk program. Make your choice. If you choose to schedule this program, ensure that all other programs will be closed while it runs.---->Next

Now you have come to the most important part of the Maintenance Wizard. You can now choose to delete any unnessesary files. I suggest that you only delete the Temporary files and the Temporary Internet Files. To do this, choose Settings and uncheck what you dont want to delete. ----->Next---->Finish (Remember that your system has to be on for the Maintenance Wizard to operate)

You have safely set your system to rid itself of performance hampering files and to perform routine disk maintenance on its own. If you dont want to run the Maintenance Wizard for this, use this VB script that will remove the Windows Temp. files for you. If you simply do not want either of these options and still wish to dump the .tmp files manually, restart your computer in MS-DOS mode and at the command line type: (assuming that c is the drive where Windows resides)

deltree /y c:\Windows\Temp\*.*

You may be tempted to place this command in your autoexec.bat file for subsequent execution upon boot up. If you choose to do so, remember that the temp files are also used by many programs, installation wizards and updates to hold files that it will use for its purposes. If you choose to place this in your autoexec.bat file, ensure that you disable this line with the REM command prior to installing any software where rebooting your computer is needed to affect changes.

Check your "swapfile" (Virtual Memory) -- I cannot emphasize this enough -- LET WINDOWS MANAGE ITS OWN SWAPFILE!!! Windows is designed this way. By specifying a swapfile size, you can choke off the memory management to the point where your system bogs down. This is one of those recommendations that not everyone believes in. Some folks think that having a specified size on their swapfile is the best way. I dont. And I believe that Microsoft knows better since they recommend letting Windows manage its own memory. Of course, as usual, YMMV. Some players have had increased performance using the utility called "Cacheman".

Change your color depth settings -- On slower systems, the color saturation that is displayed can often suck down performance making the computer sluggish. To change your color depth, go to DESKTOP---->RIGHT CLICK---->PROPERTIES---->SETTINGS. You will see the color tab to the right. It may say either 16 colors, 256 colors, 16 bit, or 32 bit true color. If it says 32 bit, drop your setting down to 16 bit. Apply the setting and see if your system speeds up. If it doesnt, repeat the previous steps and then drop the color to 256 colors (Diablo 2 was created with 256 colors). Apply the setting and check performance.

Turn off "Findfast" -- If you have Microsoft Office installed, you probably have "Findfast" running in the background. It loads in the Startup menu by default. As it runs in the background, it almost constantly indexes all of your files so that you can find them quicker when running MS Office. This is a real performance killer. Perform CTRL-ALT-DEL and End Task on it. Then go to Start---->Run---->msconfig---->Startup Tab and then uncheck the box for Findfast. This will prevent it from loading at startup again. Now, you must delete the previously created indices or risk further potential problems...

From the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #Q158705

The correct way to disable Find Fast requires that you delete the Find Fast index files. To do this, use the following steps:

On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

In the Control Panel window, double-click Find Fast.

In the "Index for documents in and below" list, click the first item.

On the Index menu, click Delete Index.

In the Delete Index dialog box, click OK.

When you are prompted whether to delete the index, Click OK.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until no more indices are listed.

On the Index menu, click Close And Stop. Then, click OK to stop Find Fast.

Then, do either of the following: Remove the Microsoft Find Fast shortcut from the StartUp folder (typically in the Windows folder in the Start Menu\Programs folder). -or- Run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program in maintenance mode, and remove Find Fast.

Turn on the DMA setting for your hard drive -- DMA is an acronym for Direct Memory Access and many IDE hard drives and motherboards support it. DMA allows your processor to speed up transfer of data from the hard drive.

The advantage of using direct memory access with integrated device electronics--(IDE) CD-ROM and disk drives--is that it lowers CPU usage during I/O transfers.

To determine whether your drive supports DMA:

Go to START---->SETTINGS---->CONTROL PANEL---->SYSTEM ICON

Select the Device Manager tab Click the + sign next to the Disk drives entry. Select the drive you want to enable for DMA and click Properties On the Settings tab. There should be a DMA check box. If this box is unchecked, place a checkmark. If there is no check box (or it is grayed out), your motherboard chipset does not support the bus master interface. If the check box is not checked after you restart your system, your hard disk probably has been automatically disabled again because the hard disk may not support DMA.

Use the "No CD" program for your game -- This is the "No CD" file from Game Copy World. This works for Diablo 2 with v. 1.02 installed. Download it here.

Create a Maximum MTU setting (dial-up users only) -- The MTU (maximum transmission unit) setting specifies the maximum size data packet that the IP driver can pass. Windows 98 has a bug that causes the default MTU to be 1500. Your system cannot pass this amount of data at one time. By changing your MTU setting to a specific amount, you will increase "throughput" on your dial-up connection. Creating a new MTU setting manually involves creating a new key in the system registry.

Remember: ONLY ATTEMPT THIS CHANGE IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE REGISTRY!!! IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BOOT YOUR COMPUTER. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MAKING A MISTAKE!!

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER, BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY. IF YOU SOMEHOW MAKE A MISTAKE AND CANNOT BOOT TO WINDOWS, HIT F8 WHILE THE COMPUTER IS TRYING TO BOOT. SELECT DOS MODE AND AT THE PROMPT, TYPE "SCANREG". YOU WILL BE PROMPTED TO PICK A COPY OF YOUR REGISTRY TO RESTORE.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO ALTER YOUR REGISTRY MANUALLY, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THIS SMALL PROGRAM THAT WILL PERFORM THE SAME FUNCTIONS AS WELL AS OTHER TWEAKS THAT CAN IMPROVE PERFORMANCE. MTU SPEED

To change the MTU settings:

1. Go to START---->RUN and type REGEDIT

2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/SERVICES/CLASS/netTrans/000n (where n is your particular network adapter binding.) Look for the indicator that this key is for your dial up adapter and IP protocol.

3. Right click on the right panel

4. Select New / String Value

5. Type in "MaxMTU" (no quotes)

6. Double click on it and enter 576 (576 is the "industry standard", however, you can enter a higher or lower number if you wish. Mine is set at 852 and I get excellent throughput.)

If you have tried everything to boost system performance... -- You can use the Windows 95 Kernel Toys to isolate other problems. This includes the "Wintop" program which monitors CPU usage by programs. While these are utilities for Windows 95, they can be safely used on Windows 98. Microsoft will not support these tools, so use at your own risk. Make sure you read all inlcuded readme files prior to installation of any of these programs.

Other things you can try (dial-up users only) -- Check your modem, ISP, and phone lines. Ensuring their working order can also yield benefits. Go to my Connectivity page to learn more.

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